we must cut loose altogether from our moorings in the world of
which we have definite experience. We are invited to entertain
suggestions concerning the peculiar economy of the invisible
portion of the universe which we have no means of subjecting to
any sort of test of probability, either experimental or
deductive. These suggestions are, therefore, not to be regarded
as properly scientific; but, with this word of caution, we may
proceed to show what they are.

Compared with the life and death of cosmical systems which we
have heretofore contemplated, the life and death of individuals
of the human race may perhaps seem a small matter; yet because we
are ourselves the men who live and die, the small event is of
vastly greater interest to us than the grand series of events of
which it is part and parcel. It is natural that we should be more
interested in the ultimate fate of humanity than in the fate of a
world which is of no account to us save as our present
dwelling-place. Whether the human soul is to come to an end or
not is to us a more important question than whether the visible
universe, with its matter and energy, is to be absorbed in an
invisible ether. It is indeed only because we are interested in
the former question that we are so curious about the latter. If
we could dissociate ourselves from the material universe, our
habitat, we should probably speculate much less about its past
and future. We care very little what becomes of the black ball of
the earth, after all life has vanished from its surface; or, if
we care at all about it, it is only because our thoughts about
the career of the earth are necessarily mixed up with our
thoughts about life. Hence in considering the probable ultimate
destiny of the physical universe, our innermost purpose must be